Pork eaters are aging, Ontario Pork chairman warns

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Other issues may have a greater impact on the provincial pork industry’s health than the current dispute over marketing and they need attention, warns Ontario Pork’s outgoing chairman.

Curtiss Littlejohn warns pork’s primary consumer, the 55-year-old male, is aging and those between the ages of 25-35 “rarely, if ever,” consume the meat.

“We need a long term plan of where to target our industry based on a minimum of 90,000 hogs per week,” says a copy of a speech he delivered at the board’s annual meeting in London on Tuesday.

Littlejohn recommends the industry:

•    produce high value pork products for Canada and other countries and reduce dependence on live exports;
•    harness a $50 million federal slaughterhouse expansion fund to streamline processing and perhaps invest in a green energy plant; and
•    pursue marketing opportunities with China.

He notes the provincial marketing board is participating in a national print and television pork advertising campaign that targets mature consumers “more inclined to care about where their meat comes from.”

Littlejohn opened and ended his speech by describing the effects of the marketing board’s restructuring efforts and the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission order last October that eliminates Ontario Pork’s single desk marketing powers. Producers and regional producer organizations have appealed the order to the Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal.

The Tribunal, in turn, has imposed a stay until the yet-to-be scheduled hearing on the order, which would have otherwise come into effect today. A pre-hearing conference April 17 will address the stay’s terms. Ontario Pork holds party status in the hearing.

In the meantime, Littlejohn says the marketing board will embark on strategic planning to define its services and budget after restructuring.

He warns that a February letter from the Commission outlining a reduced service charge to producers, after restructuring takes place, doesn’t account for costs associated with the new marketing system. Producers must ensure “we receive value for our funding dollars,” he says. BF